Back at Yokohama during Winter 1884...
A week had passed since the fateful sparring match between Satsuki "May" Brooks and Yahiko "Joshua" Myojin.
However, the clash between Satsuki and Yahiko quickly became old hat for the kenjutsu students of the Sakaguchi Dojo.
Why?
It was because Satsuki's adoptive grandfather and grandmaster of the Musou Madden School, Genzo Sakaguchi, insisted that Yahiko return and regularly spar with her and the rest of the students in the dojo to prepare them for, well, war.
A war against foreign invaders, apparently.
The so-called Brigands Guild was out to assassinate the members of the Minakata Family, the hatamoto class samurai family whom generations of Sakaguchis served under since the Sengoku Era.
In any case, Mr. Myojin had ended up being a sparring partner for Miss Brooks in the end.
They sparred with each other until everyone got sick of it, including them. Then they sparred some more.
They kept sparring until every following match lost all meaning to them. Like they were being punished through the endless battles.
This was all part of Genzo's Training from Hell: His students' collective punishment for performing poorly against both Yahiko and May.
This went on for several more days until the fateful confrontation between uncle and nephew at the House of Minakata.
Rurouni Yahiko
A Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction Continuation Story by Chester Castañeda
Old friends meet up with new friends.
Disclaimer: All characters used in this fanfic (save some others) are the rightful property of Nobuhiro Watsuki, Shueisha, Shonen Jump, Viz, Sony Studios, Fuji TV, Studio Gallup, Studio Deen, and ADV. This disclaimer also covers all the other copyrighted material that are far too many to mention here. Don't sue me please, I'm very poor.
Chapter 53: A Trip Down Memory Lane
'Boy, there sure are a lot of foreigners in Yokohama.'
Those were actually one of the first couple of thoughts in Yahiko's mind when their train to Yokohama from Hiroshima first arrived.
Was he not distracted by the prospect of sparring with Satsuki, he would've focused more on that train of thought. However, even the eventual sparring match reinforced his first impressions on Yokohama.
After all, "Satsuki" was actually May Brooks, an Englishwoman adopted into a Japanese family.
A foreigner.
Damn, there sure were a lot of gaijin in Yokohama. It was crawling with them, in fact. Like an anthill. Or a beehive.
Or rather, weren't they more like a swarm of murderous wasps invading a beehive that they obviously didn't belong to?
Maybe that was a bit much of a comparison. However, that was what the Satsuma Domain felt was happening when the Americans first opened up Japan's ports to world trade.
Like they were being invaded by another country.
Yokohama was the place where it all began, from the Convention of Kanagawa to the Bakumatsu. It literally helped end the Sakoku (Locked Nation) Era of Japan, even.
It was all because an arrogant American foreigner embarrassed the Shogunate by forcing it to open Japanese ports for foreign trade.
It was reminiscent of what the British did to Imperial China with its Opium Wars for the sake of getting tea and other goods from the country.
The consequences of their actions could be felt even to this day, in 1884.
Like Yokohoma ending up like a center for world trade full of foreigners. Or Emperor Meiji being installed into power by the Ishin Shishi winning the Bakumatsu and establishing of the Meiji Government.
Regardless, the boy from Tokyo had ended up with a new routine ever since he lost that damn spar in Yokohama.
He attended "classes" at the Sakaguchi Dojo and served as one of its teacher's sparring partners almost daily, including weekends.
On the bright side, he got paid cold, hard cash for his efforts to train. He had that going for him, which was nice.
He was actually there to help Old Man Genzo Sakaguchi and Kinta Minakata along with a short list of volunteer students to help guard the Minakata Family while the Brigands Guild remained afoot.
The Great (Pain in the Ass) Gan also helped out in his own way. The meat shield served as a pretty impressive hand-to-hand combat sparring partner. His fighting style with the big metal bat didn't need as much polish or technique as his street fighting experience.
As long as Gan held actual job and pulled his own weight in terms of rent money, Yahiko was fine with whatever the lout wanted to do.
Even Munenori Minoe visited the dojo from time to time to help out with chores, clean the equipment, or do practice drills on defense.
However, he didn't do much there otherwise.
Yahiko expected more from him. He knew Minoe was capable of much more.
Like in Shinshu, it was hard to convince people that this meek guy with an eye patch and wig was actually a fearsome warrior and assassin in his own right.
Or her own right. Since Minoe was basically just Kaede Morinaga with a wig strapped to her head care of an eye patch.
But if Minoe thought he was a guy, who was Yahiko to tell him otherwise?
The thing was that Minoe barely went to the Sakaguchi Dojo ever since Yahiko's first spar with Satsuki.
He was a martial artist himself who was probably even better than Myojin at kenjutsu but he chose not to help the Sakaguchis or Minakatas out.
In their other misadventures, Munenori was practically inseparable with the rest of the Three Stooges. Not this time, though.
'Was he avoiding going to the Sakaguchi Dojo because of Minakata Kinta?' Yahiko mused. 'What has he been up to this past week anyway?'
Dreading another blistering (and blister-inducing) sparring match with the master of long-range naginata/bo strikes for today, Yahiko found time to write more letters about his exploits addressed to his childhood sweetheart Tsubame Sanjo.
It came with the implication that she should also read the letters to Kenshin and Kaoru Kamiya as well, so they'd also know whatYahiko was up to.
It was his way of relaxing himself.
He sure hoped they were doing fine. Too bad they couldn't write him back in return, seeing how he had no permanent address at the moment.
Also, what would've been Kenshin's reaction to all these strange people using his former sobriquet "Battousai" long after he was retired from being a hitokiri (manslayer)? Everyone was pulling a Hiruma Brothers' style "prank" on him, it would seem.
'Maybe Amakusa Shogo called his band of misfit samurais the Battousaigumi (Battousai Group) partly as his way of challenging Kenshin. He's actually daring him to find them and stop them from abusing his name.'
Yahiko then thought of Tsubame and how she'd pack him lunches or wait for him to come home after every kendo practice, when she herself was done with her shift at the Akabeko (Red Cow) Restaurant.
He missed those idle days of his after all that nonsense with Jinchu and whatnot was finally laid to rest. There was something nostalgic about them, to be honest.
'Wha...?'
Speaking of nostalgia, he just saw a poster posted on the outside of the Yokohama Post Office. A poster for the circus.
It advertised clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, unicyclists, and more.
Huh. The circus, huh? He should pay a visit to the circus one of these days.
Now that brought back memories.
Before he met Miss Sanjo, he was first smitten by a certain "Human Cannonball". A pretty girl about his age. Like Tsubame, she also had the annoying habit of calling him by the name...
"Yahiko-chan...?"
Staring back at him with a ream of posters tucked under her arm was the girl he was just thinking about.
A girl he hadn't seen in six years. A girl he thought he'd never see again in his lifetime.
"M-Marimo!?"
He felt like having a heart attack then and there.
"Oh, it is you, Yahiko-chan! I'm so glad you still remember me!" said Marimo.
What were the chances of them meeting like this?
Now if only Kenshin, Kaoru, Kenji, and/or Tsubame was right behind her too. Maybe even Sanosuke (Sagara/Higashidani), while they were at it!
Actually, Shinshu was further away than Yokohama was from the Kamiya Dojo. Since he was nearby, maybe he should drop in and visit his friends back in Tokyo instead!
Come to think of it, right at the very top of the same circus poster he'd been staring at was the very same "Human Cannonball" Marimo Ebisu, grinning while sitting atop a huge cannon.
'She's still going at it with the human cannonball gig, huh?' he thought. 'Some things never change.'
Marimo, a circus performer, was one of countless people the Kenshingumi (Kenshin Squad) met and helped out. Her job was to get shot out of a huge cannon that was aimed towards a target in an acrobatic fashion for the entertainment of paying customers.
Kenshin, Sano, Kaoru, and Yahiko saved the circus run by Marimo's ringmaster father Jirokichi Ebisu from a circus competitor named Soubei Sumidaya, a man whose own circus started failing after his star attraction, Marimo, left.
Sumidaya actually attempted to sabotage the Ebisu Circus by forcing them to immediately pay their loan to him they used to set up their own big top. According to their unfair contract, Marimo and her father would go back to his circus if they fail to settle their debts.
Afterwards, Soubei had his people steal the money that the Ebisu Family were intending to pay the loan with while at the same time injuring Marimo's father by getting him buried in a pile of wooden boards.
The evil circus ringleader then had some of his goons steal the gunpowder used to fire the Ebisu's cannon and then got the rest of his ex-convict performers to attack the Ebisu Circus in the middle of a performance for good measure.
The Kenshingumi not only filled in as Ebisu Circus performers themselves to stall for time; they also saved the day by taking out Sumidaya's gang in one fell swoop. Even Megumi Takani helped them out by mixing the right gunpowder portions needed for the cannon to work safely on top of tending to an injured Jirokichi.
"How are you? It's been ages!" Marimo asked Yahiko.
"I've been doing fine, all things considered," he replied. "I see you're still working at the circus."
"What can I say? I love my job." She giggled, brushing a stray lock of hair to the side of her face.
The circus was in town, and Marimo was one of its headliners in Yokohama.
At any rate, he and his second crush (Tsubame was his first) caught up with each other like old friends while he helped her put up those posters she carried to advertise her circus troupe's upcoming performance.
"How's everyone in Tokyo? Are they doing well? How are Kenshin-san, Sano-san, and Kaoru-san?"
"Well..."
He couldn't possibly recount everything that happened during Kenshin's stay with Kaoru in the Kamiya Dojo.
She didn't need to know about Jine Udo, Isurugi Raijuta, Makoto Shishio, or Yukishiro Enishi. No need to tell her about those serial murderers, anti-government rebels, and/or wannabe dictators.
He instead gave her the abridged version of what had happened so far. Even more abridged that the letters he sent Tsubame about his current exploits.
Marimo particularly loved the news that Kenshin and Kaoru were married with a child, Megumi was still practicing medicine in Aizu, and that Sanosuke Sagara had been adventuring all over the world, reaching as far as the United States of America.
Man, she was still so pretty. She really blossomed from being a cute girl to a heartbreaker in just six years.
Marimo Ebisu might not be as bombastic as May Brooks was, but she was still drop-dead gorgeous. Sometimes nothing could beat the adorable cuteness of youthful Japanese beauty.
She was like his nostalgia from when he was 10 years old personified. A muse from his past.
Marimo and Yahiko exchanged bows after their posting of all the posters was done. She then told him to come see her at the circus sometime by giving him a free ticket for today's show.
"Thanks for helping me out. See you later, Yahiko-chan!" she said as she waved goodbye.
"Uh, same to you, Marimo," he said lamely. The fact that she called him with the childish "-chan" honorific didn't even register in his mind.
Was he dreaming? Someone pinch him.
"OW! What's the big idea...?"
And so someone did. Right on the cheek.
He turned in time to see two of three Sanbaka (Three Stooges) and Chizuru Raikouji (the girl who pinched him) staring holes at him.
"That's what we'd like to know, 'Yahiko-chan'," said Chizuru, who looked at him with half-lidded eyes, a knowing smirk, and an upturned nose.
He also idly thought that maybe it'd be better if he "swapped" places with Chizuru so she'd be the one to complete the Sanbaka trio of idiots instead.
As they walked back to their respective inns, Yahiko's trio of companions grilled him for information even though he'd rather they went to a cookout grill instead. Like for yakiniku (grilled meat cuisine) or something.
"Was that your girlfriend from Tokyo we've heard so much about?" asked Minoe. "She's the one who calls you 'Yahiko-chan'. Right, Yahiko-chi?"
"Oh yeah, Sanjo no Kiwami or something," said the Moronic Gan.
"Sanju no Kiwami (Triple Extreme) is a punching technique, ya doofus! Her name is Sanjo Tsubame!" Yahiko said, not bothering to try and figure out how Gan coincidentally came up with Sanosuke Sagara's learned special technique.
"But this poster here says her name is Marimo the Human Cannonball," said Chizuru.
Uh-oh. Yahiko was the bigger moron after all. He gulped and sweated bullets. "Ummm..."
"Is that her stage name, Yoshi-boy?" asked the Idiotic Gan. "You didn't tell us your girlfriend is a circus performer! I thought she was a waitress in some maid cafe!"
Ah, what the hell. The jig is up. Might as well come clean.
"All right. Listen up. Marimo is not Tsubame. Tsubame is a different person, okay?"
"Oooooh," the Sanbaka (and Chizuru) chirped together in a sing-song way.
"Cut that out," he admonished his three "friends". "Marimo is... well, someone that I, we (the Kenshingumi) met at the circus. We helped her circus out when it was in trouble."
"Your ex?" supposed the Clueless Gan, which earned him a "MEN! (HEAD!)" strike to the noggin care of the wrapped-up sakabatou (reversed-edge blade).
"No, stupid! She's just a friend! A circus girl we saved from being harassed and duped into a bad contract by her former boss in Tokyo!"
"Oh, I get it. She was your first crush!" supposed Chizuru.
"N-No, she's not! She's my second... I mean, no. No! I met Tsubame before her, okay?"
"Ha. Bingo. Second crush, huh?" The Raikouji Heiress smiled like a cat that ate the canary. Her womanly intuition struck remarkably true like a pinprick to the center of Yahiko's heart. "No wonder you were ogling her with goo-goo eyes."
Tokyo Samurai Descendant winced, as though someone just punched him in the gut. "Raccoon Girl, stop it right there!"
Damn. The Kaoru look-alike was scarily perceptive. More so than the "real" Kaoru, even.
"No, that can't be it," said the bright-eyed (well, one-eyed) Minoe. "Mochiron! (But of course!) There's no way Yahiko-chi would ever cheat on his girlfriend in Tokyo with his other crush!"
"GUUUAAA!" exclaimed Myojin, who ended up on the ground, kneeling and on all fours in pain. Doing the dogeza or the Japanese kneeling position to prostrate oneself, especially if that someone were ashamed or embarrassed immensely in public.
"P-Please, Minoe. Have mercy."
A week ago, right after Yahiko lost his friendly sparring match against Satsuki...
Munenori Minoe and Kinta Minakata had a little private meeting at the backyard of the Sakaguchi Dojo.
"What are you doing here?" the straightforward Kinta asked. "Did Amakusa Shogo send you after me?"
Minoe chuckled. "This is actually a bit of a detour on my part, but I intended to keep an eye on you regardless. Same with Akahori-chi."
"Detour?" he repeated. "Oh. You're traveling with that kid, right? Why is that?"
Munenori rubbed his bandaged hands to keep them warm. "That 'kid' knows who the real Battousai is, Kinta-chi."
"Oh," he said, remembering how focused and obsessed Kaede was with meeting the original Hitokiri Battousai, to the point of dressing and even looking like him. "Really? That kid has connections with Himura Battousai?"
"Yes, he does. He even inherited his old sword."
"...I see."
Was this the reason why despite looking about the age of a teen, this samurai boy from Tokyo was able to take down grown men from their dojo and almost defeated one of their best students?
Was Yahiko Myojin taught kenjutsu by Kinta's incidental namesake all this time? 'But his sword style didn't look like Hiten Mitsurugu Ryu at all.'
"And as for you," said Minoe, who took off his wig and eye patch, revealing his rust-red hair and lazy eye with a cross-shaped scar near it. "Do you intend to betray Shogo-sama again, Traitor? Are you still working under Akahori Tetsuo?"
By reflex, Minakata's hand went immediately to the handle of his sword as he fell into the aggressive Waxing Stance of Musou Madden Ryu, ready to pull his Akatsuki (Red Moon) blade out of its sheathe at a moment's notice.
He wasn't talking to Minoe any longer, but instead to the much more dangerous and erratic Nisemono Battousai (Fake Battousai): Kaede Morinaga.
"Shozo Lorenzo. Genemon Gaspar. Lady Magdalia. Do any of these names mean anything to you, Traitor? You Judas!"
Incidentally, Judas Iscariot was one of the 12 apostles who ultimately betrayed Jesus Christ for 30 pieces of silver, leading to the Messiah's crucifixion and death.
"I remember all their names," Kinta said, his countenance unchanging. "I will never forget them."
So Kaede asked, "Whose side are you on then, Minakata Kinta? Shogo-sama's or Akahori's?"
Yahiko Myojin grumbled to himself. He ended up under the big top after all, attending Marimo's show in spite of himself. Against his better judgment.
He originally didn't intend to attend the circus performance that afternoon. He had hellish training and sparring to do at the Sakaguchi Dojo with May Brooks and her students, after all.
'Er, on second thought, they can take a rain check,' he mused. 'We can have a day or two without sparring, right?'
Regardless, some burly idiot with a drinking and gambling problem stole his ticket to the circus from under his nose and went there in his place instead.
Myojin was forced to actually wait in line and buy a ticket, if only to make sure the "Great" Gan wasn't up to his usual mischief of brawling, drinking, stealing, lying, and owing more food and gambling debts.
Man, Yahiko had half a mind to continue his journey without Gan and just dump the "Soba King" on the road or leave him like a stray cat at a park one of these days. He was nothing but trouble.
Then again, Gan also gave him the excuse to play hooky on the Sakaguchi Dojo for once and enjoy himself for at least a day after a week of torture and countless pole, shinai, or bokken strikes to his person.
The Ebisu Circus Troupe had blossomed and become a far bigger company than its owners dreamed possible in just six years.
The ringmaster Sumidaya would've rolled in his grave if he were dead (knock on wood). Right now he was serving his sentence in Tokyo Penitentiary, so it was possible for him to roll around his jail cell instead.
Instead of only offering one main star attraction in Marimo the Human Cannonball with half-hearted side attractions here and there, the Ebisu Circus had grown big enough to do tours on a national level.
"You actually came! I'm so glad!" cheered Marimo, who was in her form-fitting leotard cat suit as she met up with Yahiko at the entrance of the circus tent.
She waved off the cashier from selling Myojin a ticket, whispering that the boy was her guest.
"I can't wait for you to see me perform later!"
"I wouldn't miss it for the world," he lied with a grin while scratching the back of his head, one eye on the lookout for any sign of the Unruly Gan.
"Dad, you remember Yahiko, right?" Marimo told her father after leading the boy in question to him.
"Ah, yes! The boy who saved our circus along with that nice swordsman fellow, doctor, kendo instructor, and street fighter!" said Jirokichi Ebisu, the ringmaster of the Ebisu Circus Troupe. "Has it been six years already? Time sure flies! I hope you enjoy the show, son! Tell Himura-san and company that Ebisu Jirokichi sends his regards!"
"Yeah, sure, and thanks a lot too!" Yahiko said, who even indulged enough to buy himself popcorn and a candy apple from the nearby concession stands of the big top. Might as well, since he was already there. "Oh, and it's Kamiya-san now. Kenshin married into Kaoru's family."
"Is that right? Congratulations to them, then! I always had an inkling suspicion they'd end up together."
"Would you believe they even have a kid too?" gabbed Yahiko between mouthfuls of popcorn.
"Ha! Himura-san, you sly dog! I mean, Kamiya-san, right? Way to go. That girl is quite a catch. I hope in the future that Mr. and Mrs. Kamiya will get to see how much our humble show has improved through the years!"
"I'll tell them all about it!" said Myojin.
Jirokichi then turned towards his star attraction and said to Yahiko, "If Marimo is lucky, then maybe she could get the same happy ending herself!" while giving her a wink.
"Shut up, Dad!" Marimo fidgeted cutely in her skintight uniform that left little to the imagination. "You're embarrassing me in front of Yahiko-chan!"
"Bwahahaha! Puppy love is so adorable!"
Yahiko laughed along with Jirokichi but his pretend mirth didn't quite reach his eyes. 'She's still going with the 'chan' thing, huh? I guess Marimo will never see me as anything other than that 10-year-old brat she met six years ago.'
He spared a glance at the young girl and her hour-glass form in that tight-fitting outfit before their eyes met and they looked away in embarrassment.
'Also, 'puppy love'? What puppy love? Does Marimo have a boyfriend already or something?'
"Well, we better get going! Marimo, go to your trailer and prepare yourself. Son, enjoy the show! It's about to start!" said the Ebisu Ringmaster.
"Don't mind if I do!" said Yahiko, who then took a large bite of his candied apple.
The show went off without a hitch.
It certainly helped that no competing circus ringmaster and his failed circus performers were trying to sabotage their performances this time around.
Ebisu Circus, which was founded in 1878, performed in four to five locations around Japan each year, setting up its bright-red, 20-meter-high big top in each place for roughly three months.
The circus also had shows twice a day, morning and night, up until the end of the month.
This year, in 1884, the troupe opened in Osaka before moving to Nagoya and then Yokohama, intending to perform in Fukuoka before the year was over. According to Jirokichi, they might add Asakusa or Takamatsu if the shows proved successful enough.
This time around, they had everything going for them. Lion tamers and other animal trainers. A zoo full of trained animals. Circus clowns. Magicians and other illusionists. Escape artists able to free themselves from the Chinese water torture box or while hanging upside down like a bat.
There were also jugglers, acrobats, dancers, and death-defying trapeze artists present, among whom included their headliner Marimo Ebisu.
At present, Ebisu Circus had around 50 to 60 performers, among 20 were from overseas. The ringmaster said he scoured the globe to find the best performers as his circus grew in popularity, although it did help that international ports like Yokohama allowed them an influx of foreign talent to hire.
No wonder the lines and crowds Ebisu Circus had currently gathered were even longer and bigger than the ones the Kenshingumi came across when the troupe had first formed. They'd really expanded their show into a world-class extravaganza.
If only Kenshin and the others could witness the spectacular program. It was well-worth the price of admission (had Yahiko paid)!
'Man, I do hope they add Tokyo to their tour dates. This is amazing,' thought Yahiko.
Before the main event with their headliner—Marimo the Human Cannonball—finally started, they held a short tournament of sorts to showcase the skills of their strongman weightlifters, bodybuilders, and wrestlers, many of whom were trained in classic Japanese jujutsu, judo, and sumo as well as Greco-Roman wrestling and freestyle wrestling from the western world.
Yahiko yawned.
As popular as the wrestling portion of the show was to the kids, he was too old and too experienced in martial arts to not recognize the stage tricks and fake fighting that the strongmen did to each other when doing their little pretend tournaments.
Some of it was impressive, but it wasn't real fighting. More like a dance made to look like a real competitive match.
At the tail end of the wrestling show, they held a contest where the audience members were invited to participate to see if they could take on the circus strongmen in a match.
At least when they were fighting against audience members, some of the more experienced wrestlers had the chance to showcase their actual skills instead of doing fixed choreographed fights for a crowd, but those lasted in mere seconds.
As extra incentive, they offered cash prizes to anyone who could defeat the circus's stable of strongmen.
"BWAHAHAHA! I am the Soba King! The Great Gan! Beware my wrath, puny mortals!"
Wait a minute. That voice. Yahiko knew something was amiss!
Right there, on the ring down below, came forth the Rambunctious Gan in all his bandanna-wearing, barrel-chested glory, beating on his pectorals like one of the damn trained gorillas the circus had caged.
Yahiko had almost forgotten himself. This was the reason why he went to the circus in the first place! To chase after Gan the Ticket Thief and keep him out of trouble!
The audience ooh-ed and aah-ed at the spectacle before them.
As far as the audience knew, this unknown Japanese "strongman" thug that wasn't part of the previous shows took down the circus's own strongmen one after the other with karate kicks, punches, elbows, knees, throws, and body slams.
Yahiko tried to go back to the entrance to retrieve the sakabatou he left behind (no weapons were allowed inside the big top for obvious reasons), but it was a packed house and he was soon distracted by the Muscular Gan making short work of the long line of strongmen, wrestlers, bodybuilders, and martial artists one after another, sometimes two or three at a time.
It was a royal ass-whuppin'. A rumble where the Monstrous Gan came out on top. The Soba King of the Ring was seriously cleaning house.
No one who came down on that wrestling ring could get him out of it, it'd seem. Was this all pre-planned in advance? Was it part of the show? But why would a circus humiliate its own performers by "losing" to some random audience member?
'What is that idiot up to?' Yahiko thought. He himself could charge into the middle of the ring and try his luck with toppling Gan, but he had seen the strength and durability of the big oaf firsthand. He felt more confident taking him on with a sword instead of without it.
Yahiko then face-planted when he realized who was the girl—the valet—in the ring with Gan.
"Ohohohoho! That's right! Can no one take my," the girl in kabuki makeup cleared her throat and grimaced, "husband out? Are the wrestlers in this circus nothing but weaklings and clowns against the Monster Among Men, Gan the Great?"
"It's the Great Gan, Kaori-neechan! Get it right!"
"Shut up and mug at the audience, Soba King. I'm working here."
It was Chizuru. Even with her face completely plastered with white paint, Yahiko could recognize that face and that comically large hair bow anywhere. Or at least mistake her for Kaoru Kamiya. She was acting as manager to the dine-and-dashing food bandit.
Myojin sighed and sat back down. He wanted to hit himself for falling for carnie nonsense and circus trickery.
Of course Gan beating up strongmen was all still part of the show. Of course none of this was real and all of it was scripted. Circus or carnival wrestling was fake, after all.
What the hell were the Ebisus thinking, making them part of the show though?
"Are they friends of yours, Yahiko-chan?" someone asked him from behind.
"Ah! Marimo!" said Yahiko. "You scared me. What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at your trailer?"
Marimo pouted cutely. "No. It's boring in there. All you can do in there is stare at a wall or eat. I want to watch the show with you. I want to see your reactions from up close."
Yahiko blushed and turned his attention back to the ring as Gan threw several other circus wrestlers over the top rope, growling and grunting like an unhinged wild beast. "How'd you know they were my friends?"
"I saw you with them after I gave you a ticket to the show," she explained. "I also asked them when they got here if they knew you."
"So what's going on?" Yahiko asked, pointing at the commotion that two of his so-called comrades was making. "Who put them up to this?"
"Well, Gan-san volunteered to fight the strongmen for real but my father had other ideas. He offered him some money to do a scripted show instead. The girl he's with, Chizuru, offered to be his manager for a cut of the money, saying he owes her anyway."
"Yeah, that sounds like Raccoon Girl, all right," said Yahiko with a shake of his head. "She's the stingiest rich person I know."
"About that. Is that Chizuru person a relative of Kaoru-san?" she asked. "Like a little sister, cousin, niece, or something?"
"Oh. OH. No, there's no relation between the two of them. But it's freaky, isn't it? How much they look alike, I mean," he said. "They're like twin sisters or something."
"When they first inquired about our wrestling tournament and cash prize, I almost thought you brought Kenshin-san and Kaoru-san with you over from Tokyo! Oh, and that poor Sano-san let himself go."
Yahiko laughed at her joke. "Hey, that was a good one." He then realized something. "Wait, what do you mean 'Kenshin-san' was with them? Wasn't it just Gan and the Raccoon Girl?"
Right on cue, a familiar voice shouted, "Stop right there, criminal scum."
Instead of Munenori Minoe, there stood Kaede Morinaga.
His other personality. The wig and eye patch was off. Her red hair was tied in a ponytail that started on the nape of her neck. Her scar under her eye visible to those with front row seats.
And indeed, even from a distance, she did look like Kenshin to all those who ever knew or met him.
"Well, if it isn't my mortal enemy, Samurai X!" said the Great Gan to Kaede while flexing his biceps (and sucking in his gut).
'Who the hell is Samurai X?!' thought Yahiko with a facepalm.
The audience booed Gan as he pushed and prodded around the shorter Kenshin look-alike Kaede like she owed him money.
"Leave the little girl alone!" some of them said. "Or little boy! I'm not sure!"
However, those who knew Kenshin and especially those who knew Kaede knew what was in store for them next.
They waited. Anticipated. With bated breath.
In Christian terms, it was a David and Goliath type of scenario. Where the young (uncrowned) King David slew the Philistine giant Goliath with a slingshot and stones to the skull.
Or at that was how Kaede envisioned it, since she actually paid attention to the bible readings Amakusa did of both the Old and New Testament for his faithful.
In Japanese History terms, it was a Kamikaze (Divine Wind) scenario. The mismatched Japan was able to overcome the Mongols through Divine Intervention in the form of a typhoon.
Morinaga then fell into her deadly Scorpio Stance.
"Swarming Stabs!"
She used sticks instead of her actual weapons, but this was a fixed carnival-style wrestling match anyway. And she was supposed to be the underdog.
The thrust pushed the muscular gorilla man to a corner. From there, as the roars of the crowd grew louder and louder, she did one of her signature moves.
It missed against Soujiro Seta, but the Glacial Gan would not be able to avoid it. He was too big, too slow, and too dumb to be able to do so.
"Scorpion Nest!"
The cheering reached a fever pitch as the seeming redheaded stepchild and weakling wrecked Gan apart like a hapless sand bag.
The feeling of nostalgia filled Yahiko yet again, remembering how the wimpy Kenshin wreaked havoc all over the Tanishi Yakuza, blowing everyone's expectations (and bodies) away.
The crowd then roared in approval as Kaede blew away the swaying, bruised Gan with one final "Deathstalker Stab!" that pushed him out of the ring, in between the ropes.
The match was over. She had won. The crowd roared with approval.
"That stick fighting girl was amazing! She was so fast with her strikes!" was the unanimous consensus of the audience. What a match. What a show.
So that was the end of that.
Myojin brushed away the sweat on the edges of his eyebrows. Damn.
She didn't hold back. She went all out instead of doing choreographed weak strikes or even sparring taps.
The ending was obviously scripted, but the hits weren't.
However, right below the ring, the scuffed-up Gan stirred. Even from that far away, Yahiko could see the wide grin on his face. Afterwards, the lout grabbed something from underneath the ring.
It was a wooden club.
'Wait, the match is over, right?' thought Yahiko. 'Gan, what in the world are you planning?'
The Great Gan entered the ring from the bottom rope, towered before the tiny Kaede, and then said, "Those love taps are not enough to take me down, Samurai X. Or am I talking to Patches now? Is that why you're acting so weak?"
This elicited a snarl from Kaede. "Don't compare me to Minoe. Don't imply he's weak either, while we're at it."
Gan snorted. "I don't get why you have so many nicknames for yourself like you've been possessed by multiple spirits, but I'll humor you for now. However, what I won't tolerate is how you keep pulling back your strikes. To do so is to disrespect me. You can do better than that, Samurai X!"
"What are you doing, Gan?" hissed Chizuru. "This isn't part of the script!"
"Sorry, Kaori-neechan! I'm going off-script! I'm doing improv!"
The Humongous Gan hurled his bat at Morinaga multiple times, who then proceeded to dodge in every which way. He ended up hitting nothing but air, the ring ropes, the pillar, and the post, but no swing landed on the Fake Battousai.
Like this was a replay of his fight with Shogo Amakusa back in Shinshu.
Yahiko gulped and clutched his arm rests, his fingernails digging into the material. As much as he hated to admit it, this match-up did leave him at least a little bit curious.
How would a serious Gan fare against a serious Kaede in a real fight?
Gan, with his superhuman stamina and durability versus the offense-minded, lightning-quick Morinaga.
His swings started going faster. And wilder. Gan hit everything he could reach with his weapon. The ring ropes shook around with a twang like they were being strummed like guitar strings.
Each hit spelled death, or at least a one-hit K.O., if any of them were to ever make full contact with the tiny girl or her tiny head.
If they could make full contact.
"Have you lost your goddamn mind, you ape?" Kaede asked, still keeping herself from breaking his kneecaps or shoving a stick up where the sun didn't shine.
Gan was one of Minoe's friends after all, but if he pushed her hard enough, something disastrous might happen.
She did the Scorpion Nest to help better parry the bat strikes and counter the batter at the same time, but each contact she made with his weapon reverberated right into her bone.
On his part, Gan ate all the strikes she hit him with like rain off his back.
She then pivoted and did Swarming Barb thrusts at Gan's blindside. It barely fazed him and one swing of his bat was all he needed to swat her and her silly sticks away.
'Since when was he this strong?' she wondered. If she only had sharp swords instead of sticks, it might've made a significant difference.
The structure underneath the ring mat cracked and buckled from their combined the force of their hammering blows. Like endless waves crashing off of a cliff side until it was crushed into sand and rubble over time.
She dodged, parried, and blocked, but she wasn't as much of a defensive expert as her Minoe personality. Her defense was her offense, and Gan shrugged off her offense. So in essence, he also shrugged off her main line of defense.
"How many more of my attacks can your thin wrists block, Samurai X?" shouted Gan.
Soon, bruises and welts formed all over her body.
Strikes meant to hit a target were different from parries and deflections, so Gan managed to tag her little by little every time she attempted to bombard him with strikes even though she was much faster than him.
They weren't so much parrying as they were exchanging strikes that sometimes happened to get in the way of each other.
Gan soon had her cornered at one of the ring posts and clipped her arm with a crack of his bat when she didn't deflect fast enough. Like a trip hammer, this made her turn and counter with a Deathstalker Stab to the skull.
His head got knocked back for a second before he grinned and kept attacking someone who was used to being the attacker.
The predator had become the prey.
"More! MORE! Hit me HARDER! I can barely feel your mosquito bites on my skin! I'm barely bleeding here, Samurai X! Or should I say Patches?"
This was getting a little dangerous.
Meanwhile, Chizuru had long ago left the ring, probably to ask for help from the remaining wrestlers backstage or even call the police. Like a person with common sense would.
Even though Kaede gave the likes of Soujiro Seta a run for his money, she was merely stick-fighting against someone as sturdy and resilient as Gan, who survived even the most fatal of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu techniques using a real sword.
Granted, he was hypnotized into thinking he had died, but he was still a tough son of a gun. Beating him with sticks would not cut it. She needed to use her blades to stand a chance.
Unbidden, Morinaga then remembered Kinta Minakata's answer to her question back at the Sakaguchi Dojo.
"I'm on no one's side. I don't want what happened to Shimabara to happen to my family. Not again."
To which she responded, "Whatever happens to your family would just be karma for what you did to mine!"
Yahiko stood up from his seat. "I've got to go, Marimo. I have to stop those two!"
"Eh?" Marimo said, just noticing him move. "But isn't this part of the show?"
"It doesn't look like it to me!" he said.
A sickening crack of the bat hit Morinaga upside the head, drawing blood.
Yahiko shouted, "NOOO! Kaede! Gan, you son of a bitch! Someone stop the goddamn match!"
She then countered with a Ryu Kan Sen (Dragon Wrap Flash) at the back of Gan's own head.
"!?" Yahiko was left speechless. He didn't know what to say.
The glint in Kaede's eyes had changed. Something awoke deep inside her thanks to that crushing blow to her head.
The Immovable Gan paused for a second, noticing the change in fighting style, before waving his bat around regardless, none the worse for wear.
"Time to swat down this annoying fly!"
But this time, he couldn't catch her. She was dodging better than before. Faster too.
'Shinsoki (God Speed),' thought Yahiko. Kaede had reached the high-speed footwork of Kenshin to complement her hand speed advantage.
Minakata's words put Kaede's mindset back to the time when she served as the Kagemusha (Shadow Warrior) to Kenshin Himura while Kinta himself served as Kagemusha to Shogo Amakusa.
When she really did act like the spirit and image of Battousai Himura. Amakusa himself taught her everything she knew about Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu.
The girl herself felt nostalgic for that time before Akahori helped with the genocide of the Hidden Christians.
If only she could turn back time. If only she could change the course of history.
If only she really were the Battousai.
Before the Indestructible Gan could react, the Battousai of Speed hit him flush with every variation of the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu technique known as Ryu Kan Sen.
"Ryu Kan Sen Kogarashi! (Dragon Wrap Flash Gale!)"
"—Tsumuji! (Hair Spin!)"
"—Arashi! (Storm!)'
The howling winds from her relentless typhoon of attacks battered and blew apart bits and pieces of the mountain—of Mount Gan—but it would not move. It would not let her pass.
"That's more like it. I kind of felt that last one, kiddo! Do better!"
As another famous saying claimed, 'No matter how much the wind howls, the mountain cannot bow to it.'
The Fake Battousai then declared, "Ryu Sou Sen Garami! (Double Dragon Flash Head Attack!)" before spinning and focusing the entirety of her momentum towards breaking Gan's neck.
The move that "finished off" Gan at the Akahori Mansion (Formerly the Tani Mansion) now barely made a dent on him.
Gan's ripcord neck muscles splintered Kaede's sticks apart before they could even break one bone on his body or tear apart his thick neck, which he flexed hard enough to stop the sticks short from doing damage.
The Mountainous Gan chuckled as he flexed his biceps and pectorals. "Kumamoto (Shogo Amakusa) hit me harder than that, Samurai X!"
Yahiko's jaw dropped. Never mind Kaede doing better had she gotten access to her swords. How unstoppable would Gan be if he had his tetsubo (metal bat) with him instead?
Kaede wiped the blood from her face, shook her head, and blinked. She then saw the sorry state of her weapons. And grinned.
'Oh my. They look like oversized prison shivs now.'
"Are you done playing? Be serious for a minute, Samurai... GUAAAA!"
Gan barely raised his arms in time to deflect multiple stabs that would've punctured a lung or gauge his eyes out, with it instead slicing open the ridge of his brow.
"BWAHAHAHA! DEATHSTALKER STAB! SWARMING BARBS! SCORPION NEST! DIE, DIE, DIE, DIE, DIE...!"
She cackled and screamed as her blunt sticks for weapons were now shaped like daggers and spears. Unhinged, to say the least.
Finally getting nicked and cut apart enough to bleed at last, even Gan himself started to holler in laughter, his face a crimson mask.
"That's the spirit, Morinaga Kaede! If that even is your real name!"Gan screamed her whole name as he bludgeoned the cackling lunatic herself to the head and chest with sickening cracks of his bat whenever she got close enough to hit.
Like rabid dogs, they ripped apart each other with no regard for defense or safety.
"You're still incomplete! You're not fighting at your full potential! I will not lose to an incomplete person! Not while there's two or more of you inside of you instead of just one!"
"SHUT UP AND DIE, GORILLA MAN!"
Didn't Yahiko claim circus wrestling was for children? No, the clowns were for children. No child should see this barbaric display!
Before anyone in the audience could realize what had happened, all the wrestlers and strongmen from the Ebisu Circus ran into the ring and brawled with both the newcomers along with themselves then and there, signaling the end of the match by disqualification.
It became a free-for-all bloody brawl.
A melee that (smartly) showcased their whole roster of strongmen, bodybuilders, and wrestlers defeating the outsiders who dare infringe on their turf in a blowoff, one-off fued of sorts after those two took their spotlight away from them.
"Wait, what? That was all part of the show?" said Yahiko, who finally sat down and exhaled the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding in all this time.
What was even going on anymore?
Something about two factions running into the ring to take out Gan and Kaede, only to end up brawling with each other since they remembered they were rivals. Or something.
That was what he overheard the audience members say anyway. Those were the people who'd been keeping up with all the strongman wrestling matches of the Ebisu Circus.
Yahiko didn't regularly attend enough circus and carnival wrestling matches to keep up with their little storylines or changing allegiances.
"I told you so," Marimo chided. "Your friends did well. They stuck to the booking. I think. Also, I'm about to come on next myself for the show's main event. Wish me luck, Yahiko-chan!"
"Oh. Oh! Uh, good luck!" said Myojin, still pondering which part of the wrestling show was scripted and which part was unscripted.
When the (literal) dust settled from the dissatisfying ending of the wrestling portion of the show, one of the audience members remarked, "Wow, what a dusty finish."
Yahiko thought he was seeing things back in the Hiroshima bandit camp full of kidnapped women. Apparently, this was not the case.
He really did witness Kaede Morinaga doing Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu techniques instead of her Scorpio and Cancer Stances.
So aside from Kaede, Minoe had another personality. A third one. One who only knew Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu.
Like the spirit and image of Kenshin himself, thusly living up to her moniker: The Fake Battousai. The Battousai of Speed.
She was the same Fake Battousai who wiped out the Fake Battousai Group in Shinshushin led by the late Keisuke.
'Keisuke, huh?' It felt like Yahiko hadn't heard that name in ages even though he was in Shinshu just a few months ago, still nursing persistent sword wounds he got from fighting Soujiro Seta, Shogo Amakusa, and the Nisemono (Fake) Battousai.
The Fake Battousai Group was a joke. However, the Real Battousai Group that they based their name on was no joke.
It cost them their lives (and their male bits) to take up that name.
The prospect of fighting a whole group of Battousai-tier opponents like Shogo, Kaede, and Kinta (as well as perhaps several others) was not something anyone should take lightly.
So why did the prospect of doing so excite Yahiko Myojin so much? Maybe it was the influence of Sanosuke Sagara in him acting up. The guy was a "bad" influence to him, after all.
'But what about the Brigands Guild?' he thought. He'd only heard of them recently and how Kinta dispatched several of their members with his supreme iaijutsu skills.
Surely these brigands weren't as dangerous as Minakata or Morinaga, right? Certainly, the Ten Swords or the Six Comrades were stronger than them as well.
And now for the main event. The Human Cannonball that closed off the show.
The teenaged Marimo, although still quite thin, was much bigger than she was 6 years ago, when she was 10 years old. Thusly, her father had gotten her a bigger, more powerful cannon to allow her to do her dangerous stunt to sail across the audience with the right amount of firepower.
She posed and danced along to the beat of the music as gorgeous circus dancers and acrobats did the same down at the foot of the huge cannon.
They did the drum roll. Everyone was on the edge of their seats as she entered the cannon.
The ringmaster himself did the countdown for his daughter's main event. "Five! Four...!"
The rest of the audience joined in, including Yahiko.
"Three!"
"Two!"
"One!"
Kaboom. The cannon roared and the earth rumbled. Off went the Flying Marimo.
Everyone stood up to try and follow the whizzing blur that was Marimo across the big top and into her targeted net.
Yahiko, a trained martial artist, was able to catch sight of the full arch of her flight.
It was so beautiful. She flew like a swan taking a dive at a lake as she went through multiple flaming hoops and then landed on the safety net down below.
This was a routine action for her that she did twice a day, which belied the real dangers of such an act.
And just like that, within 5 minutes of drawn out anticipation and a second of climax, the show was finally over.
"Thank you and good night, everyone! I love Yokohama!" said Marimo to the crowd.
The audience erupted in claps and roars of approval, which was especially unusual for a Japanese audience to do due to their culture of politeness and public etiquette. Marimo deserved the standing ovation, though.
Yahiko came over to Marimo after the whole troupe went through their curtain call. He caught her signing autographs, blowing kisses, and waving to the milling crowd. What a superstar.
"What was it like, getting shot out of a cannon?" he asked her after he caught up with her, when she was done working the crowd.
She replied, "It's hard to describe. It's like riding the most intense, wildest bronco, but the horse has wings and you're flying in the air! With no saddle! There's a big boom and a second later, you're flying through the air, unfettered and untethered by anything. It's the best feeling in the world!"
They then went out of the tent through the staff exit, away from the exiting crowd of satisfied customers.
They walked together, with her struggling to keep pace with him. He slowed down his walk to accommodate her.
Afterwards, they heard a whistle followed by a small boom. More whistling booms, crackles, and pops followed.
They looked up into the sky.
Sure enough, fireworks painted the black canvas with fire flowers of light and sound.
The bright and flowery sparks in the heavens changed the lighting around them from red to blue to yellow and every color in between. Their mood shifted with these heavenly variegations.
It was like they'd been transferred into another world. Everything suddenly looked otherworldly. Almost dreamlike.
"Hey, what's with the fireworks?" Yahiko asked. "Is there a festival nearby or...?"
"You didn't know? This is our last show of the month for Yokohama," she said. "By tomorrow, we'll be packing up and traveling to Fukuoka. We added fireworks in our last night as a show of appreciation to the people of Yokohama for making our trip here a smashing success."
"Oh. Well, then! This is a great send off, if that's the case," he said. "The Ebisu Circus has become better than I remember it."
She chuckled. "Thanks, Yahiko-chan. I'm glad. We were practicing hard all month and in this particular show, everything just clicked."
Before they knew it, they were standing on a hill, overlooking the flowery lights above.
What a magical night. It was almost... romantic, to say the least.
Too romantic.
What was with this mood?
'Stop it,' he reprimanded himself. 'Stop thinking such thoughts.'
He then turned his head in time to meet eyes with his second crush.
They looked into each other's eyes and got lost in them. This time they couldn't tear themselves away from their gazes.
Myojin's heartbeat went a mile a minute. Nothing else short of swordfights and sparring matches made his heart go crazy like this.
Marimo closed her eyes and parted her mouth slightly, her head moving towards Yahiko's.
He himself closed his eyes.
Their lips were about to touch.
He then saw a vision of a crying, bawling Tsubame in his mind's eye.
No. This was wrong. He shouldn't do this.
'Stop right now. Don't make Tsubame cry.'
He shouldn't do something that could make Tsubame Sanjo despair if she ever found out about it.
'She doesn't need to know,' a voice at the back of his mind whispered to him. A sinister voice.
'No. She won't need to know because nothing will happen here,' his inner voice of reason countered.
Yahiko finally decided to come clean, grabbing hold of Marimo's shoulders before she could lean in for their kiss. This startled her.
"Y-Yahiko-chan...?"
"I'm sorry, Marimo. I already have a girlfriend."
The glint of hope and expectation in Marimo's eyes (that Yahiko noticed just now) was extinguished with those simple words.
"What? Huh. Oh."
There was a pregnant pause between the two of them.
"Is it the crazy girl that looks like Kenshin-san? Samurai X-san?"
"WHAT? No!" he exclaimed, saving himself from tripping face-first to the ground.
Yahiko then took a deep breath, composed himself, and said, "Her name is Tsubame. Sanjo Tsubame. She's my coworker at a maid cafe back in Tokyo. I met her before I met you. We ended up together while you were long gone, touring the nation with your circus."
Another second or two of awkward silence passed between them.
"Are you sure it's not the cute girl with the hair bow? The one that kind of looks like Kaoru-san?"
"DOUBLE NO! Ew! Like I'd ever date a look-alike of Raccoon Girl! Kaoru's like a big sister to me! Gross!" said Yahiko. He then stuttered, "...H-Hey, Marimo! Are you okay?" after seeing the face she made.
Marimo smiled at him with glistening eyes as the fireworks finally died down.
"Ehehehe. Looks like I've just been dumped."
As Yahiko went back to the inn he stayed at, exiting a rather eventful circus variety show, his head filled up with various thoughts although his heart felt altogether empty.
He ultimately did the right thing in the end.
Even though he sure did take his sweet time to do so. What the hell was he thinking anyway?
He shouldn't lead a girl around when he was already taken, even though he wasn't even completely aware of her feelings up until the last second.
'Sorry, Tsubame. Sorry, Marimo.'
Wait. Was he forgetting something? Was it Gan? Did he leave Gan behind?
No, screw the Goofy Gan. Yahiko wasn't even supposed to go to the circus tonight in the first place. He was forced because Gan was up to no good once again. So let him rot, wherever he was!
No, he shouldn't make excuses. No one forced him to go to the circus to see Marimo.
He'd been tailing her around like a lost puppy ever since they met each other again at the post office. He totally led her on even though he didn't intend to do so.
He should've seen the signs. Or maybe he did notice them but he didn't want to be presumptuous.
He should've nipped this issue right at the bud from the start. Because of his carelessness, he ended up making a girl cry. He was the worst.
The Tokyo Samurai Descendant then felt a chill down his spine.
He thusly ducked before a Tsuki thrust from behind could hit him at the back of his neck, feeling its murderous intent in full.
He turned in time to see a familiar face. Too familiar, to be honest. 'Dammit, I forgot to attend training!'
"AHA! There you are, Joshua-kun!" shouted the blonde bombshell Satsuki Sakaguchi/May Brooks of the Musou Madden School. "I've been looking all over for you! You've been skipping our sparring sessions again, haven't you? I've waited all day!"
"Ah, Satsuki! I can explain!" Yahiko said, though he did not feel all that confident with his (lack of an) explanation. He then heard a cackle from behind him.
"Hahahaha! Iiiinteresting," said Minoe, who'd actually been standing behind Myojin all this time.
Or rather, said Minoe after his wig and eye patch were blown away by the shockwave of air produced from Satsuki's pole thrust, resulting in him awakening his "Kaede Morinaga" persona.
'Ah! Since when did he...?' thought the Son of Tokyo Samurai. 'I mean, she! I mean, whatever!'
"Who is this cheeky bimbo anyway, Urchin Head? I'll mess her up," asked Kaede with a yawn while rubbing her eyes. Practically half-awake.
"She's not a bimbo, Minoe! I mean, Morinaga! It's Satsuki, Chizuru's weirdo gaijin friend who thinks she's Japanese!" said Yahiko, but Minoe, well, Kaede didn't hear him. 'I guess Morinaga hasn't formally met Satsuki yet!'
"She better watch herself. I'm not in the mood for shenanigans. That meat shield you call a friend really pissed me off earlier."
"Hey! Who are you calling a bimbo? What's gotten into you?" asked Satsuki, who brushed her golden hair back then fell into the Waxing Stance of her naginatajutsu school. "Even if it's you, Minoe-chan, I won't let such a comment slide!"
"Oho. You dare approach me?" said Kaede, who tied her unfurled hair up to a high topknot ponytail then unsheathed her sword and dagger weapons.
"What's going on here?" asked Chizuru, the fourth wheel of their group, who ran into the would-be "crime scene" with click-clacking boots as she fixed her large hair bow.
"Joshua-kun stood me up on our date!" answered Satsuki, playing the victim.
"That brute! Kick his ass!" the Raikouji Heiress said, believing Miss Brooks immediately. "What would your girlfriend back in Tokyo say about this? Cheater!"
"Hey, hey, hey! Now hold on a minute!" said Myojin. "Don't pick sides! And you, don't call our sparring matches 'dates'!"
"An opening! DEATHSTALKER...!"
"...And you! No fighting, dammit!" he said as he parried the sword with Kenshin's sakabatou and jumped in between Kaede and Satsuki to break up their burgeoning cat fight.
They soon after became an entanglement of limbs and clothes.
"Out of my way, Urchin Head...! Eeeek!"
"Ah wait, just where do you think you're grabbing, mister?!"
"Blimey! Joshua-kun! You're so forward! My heart belongs to Kinta-sama, though!"
"...I'm sorry! It was an accident!"
Just then, all four of them—three excitable girls in various states of undress due to wardrobe malfunctions from the scuffle who pushed, pulled, and tugged on the shirt and pants of a similarly disheveled guy every which way—stopped cold when it dawned to them who had been quietly watching them all that time.
And understanding how suggestive they all looked to any passerby who saw them without any context.
"So which one of these lucky girls is Sanjo Tsubame exactly, Yahiko-kun?" Marimo asked with the sweetest of smiles.
Oh no. Yahiko had been demoted from "chan" to "kun"
"M-Marimo, it's not what it looks like...!"
God. Damn. It. That was the absolute worst thing he could've said. Famous last words from many a man caught cheating with floozies.
"How dare you play with a woman's heart like this! Have you no shame? You... you... filthy animal! Perv! Womanizer! Two-timing scoundrel! You're an enemy to all women! "
"NOOOO! Marimo, you've got it all wrooong!"
The ensuing slap was so crisp, its sound reverberated all the way to the nearby docks.
Oh well. There were worse ways to end one of your first crushes than to be mistaken for a playboy by your crush.
'Sayonara, Marimo,' Yahiko thought with tears streaming down his cheeks and a wry smile on his face as he saw Marimo's svelte silhouette retreat into the distance with his blurry eyes.
Even though he developed feelings for Marimo as well, he still met Tsubame first and ultimately fell for her the hardest when push came to shove.
"Who the heck was that?" asked May as she brushed and tucked a lock of her blonde hair behind her ear and pulled her sleeves back to her shoulders. "Mary Moe? Marie Mo?"
To Be Continued...
Mary Moe... She's a vegetarian!
So here's to having another filler episode character incorporated into the story. First Shogo, then Shura, now Marimo. They join the ranks of the reworked Kaita and Misanagi from the infamous Black Knights saga of the third season of RK.
Danke,
Abdiel